Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_152.TXT

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from Ethiopia; and that between Pelusium (the en-
trance of Egypt} and Syene are two;-thousand furlongs.
It lay between Egypt and Ethiopia, so that it might
seem doubtful to which it belonged. It seems better
therefore to take Migdol, rendered a tower, for the
proper name of a place, as the Septuagint do; and
such a place there was in Egypt, Jer. xliv. 1. and xlvi.
4. a town on the Red sea, Exod. xiv. 2. so that the one
was on the border of Egypt on one side, and the other
on the other: and the words may be rendered t, from
3/ligdol to Syene, eoen to the border of Ethiopia; from
one end of it to the other: it denotes the .utter desola-
tion of the country, from one end to the other. Unless
by Cush, rendered Ethiopia, is meant Arabia, as it
often is, and is thought by some to be intended here;
which was on the northern border of Egypt, as Syene
was, a city in ThebaSs, near to Ethiopia, on the southern
border of it; so that this describes Egypt from south to
north.; but the former account seems best.
Ver. 11.·          g '
No oot o man shall pass throu h zt, &c.]
This must be understood not strictly, but with some
limitation; it cannot be thought that Egypt was so de-
populated as that there should not be a single passen-
ger in it; but that there should be few inhabitants in
it, or that there should be scarce any that should
corae into it for traffic; it should not be fre-
quented as it had been. at least there should be very
few that travelled in it, in comparison of what had: no
foot of beast shall pass through it: no droves of sheep
and oxen, and such-like useful cattle, only beasts of
prey should dwell in it: neither shah it be inhabited
Jorty years: afterwarcls, yet. 17. a prophecy is given
out concerning the destruction of it by Nebuchad-
nezzar, which was in the twenty-seventh year, that is,
of Jeconiah's captivity; now allowing three years for
the fulfilment of that prophecy, or forty years, a round
number put for forty-three years, they will end about
the time that Cyrus conquered Babylon, at which time
the seventy-years' captivity of the Jews ended; and
very likely the captivity of the Egyptians a'tso. The
Jews pretend to give a reason why Egypt lay .waste
just forty years, because the famine, signified in Pha-
raoh's dream, was to have lasted, as they make it out,
forty-two years; whereas, according to them, it conti-
nued only two years; and, instead of the other forty
years of famine, Egypt must be forty years uninha-
bited: this is mentioned both by Jarchi and Kimchi.
Vet. l2. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate
in the midst of the countries that are desolate, &c.3 As
Judea and others, made desolate by the king of Baby-
lon: and her cities among the cities that are laid waste
shall be desolate .forty years; such as Thebes, Sais,
Memphis, and others; which should share the same
fate as Jerusalem and other principal cities in other
countries, which fell into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar:
and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and
will disperse them through the countries; such as were
not carried captive into Babylon fled into other coun-
tries, as Arabia, Ethiopia, and other places, Berosus{*}
makes mention of this captivity of the Egyptians
under Nebuchadnezzar the son, which no other writer
does.
Ver. 13. Yet thus saith the Lord God, at the end of
forty years, &c.] Reckoning from its devastation by
Nebuchadnezzar to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus:
will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they
were scattered; from Babylon, and other places; Cyrus
very probably being stirred up by the Lord to pro-
claim liberty to the Egyptians, as he did to the Jews,
to return to their own land; and at the same time
restored Amasis to the quiet possession of his king-
dom, who must be still alive; since, according to
Diodorus Sicalas {w}, he reigned fifty-five years; though,
according to Herodotus {x}, he reigned but forty-four
years.
Ver. 14. And I will brng again the captivity of Egypt,
&c.] Forwhat is done by men, under the direction
and influence of divine Providence, is said to be done
by the Lord, as this was, though by the means of
Cyrus: and will cause them to return into the land of
Pathros; which was a part of the !and of Egypt; per-
haps so called from Pathrusim, the son of Mizraim,
from whom Egypt had its name, Gen. x. 14. Bochart
takes it to be Thebais, a prin.cipal country in Egypt:
into the land of their habitation; or nativity, where
they were born, and where they before dwelt: and
they shall be there a base kingdom; as it is at this day
'more especially, to which it has been gradually re-
duced, having passed into various hands, and come
under the power and dotninion of different states:
whatever might be the case and circumstances of it
under Cyrus, Cambyses his .son entered into it, made
sad devastation in it, and an entire conquest of it;
and though it revolted under Darius Hystaspes, it was
subdued again, and brought into a worse state than
before by Xerxes: it revolted again in the reign of
Darius Notbus, and was at last by Ochus totally snb-
,dued; and from that time the Egyptians never had a
'king of their own nation to reign over them. Along
with the Persian empire it came into the hands of
Alexander without any opposition; and, after his
death, fell to the share of Ptolemy, one of his captains;
and, though some of the first kings of that name were
of considerable note and power, yet Egypt made a
poor figure under the reigns of several of them. When
the Roman empire obtained, it became a province of
that, and continued so for six or seven hundred years;
and then it fell into the hands of the Saracens, when it
sunk into ignorance and superstition, the Mahometan
religion being established in it, with whom it conti-
nued until about the year of Christ 1250; when the
Mamalucks, or Turkish and Carcassinn slaves, rose up
against their sovereigns, the sultans of Egypt, and
usurped. the government,' in whose hands it was until
the year 1517; when Selim the ninth, emperor of the
Turks, conquered the Mamalucks, and put an end to
their government, and annexed it to the Ottoman em-
pire; of which it is a province to this day, being go-
verned by a Turkish basha, with twenty-four begs or
princes under him, who are raised, from being ser-

{t} See Prideaux's Connexion, part 1. B. 2. p. 93. So the words are ren-
dered by Hilerus, Onomast. Sacr. p. 672. who observes, that Syene is
now called by the Arabs Asuan, from the Ethiopic word Wasn, which
signifies to terminate or finish, this being the border of Ethiopia.
{u} Apud Joseph. Autiqu. I. 10.c. 11. sect. I.
{w} Bibliothec. I. 1. p. 62 Ed. Rhodoman.
{x} Thalia, sive 1. 3. c. 10.